In late May, the House Science Committee held a hearing to explore federal policies for funding the costs of research overhead, focusing on the National Science Foundation. The subject has come to the fore in the wake of the Trump administration’s proposal to cap overhead reimbursement on National Institutes of Health grants.

The final appropriations bill for fiscal year 2017 provides flat funding for the National Science Foundation’s research and education programs. Unlike in previous fiscal years, the bill does not include constraints on how NSF is to distribute funds among its six research directorates. 

President Trump has asked Congress to impose an $18 billion cut in non-defense spending in its appropriations legislation for fiscal year 2017. According to a leaked document, the White House has suggested that about $3 billion be taken from R&D programs. Several key congressional appropriators have said it is too late in the fiscal year to consider such large cuts.

The House Science Committee is currently preparing broad, new authorization legislation for NSF. At a hearing last week, committee members indicated that STEM education, ongoing oversight issues, and implementing a strong “national interest” requirement into NSF grant-making will all be on the committee's agenda. The committee is also planning to push the agency to favor engineering and the physical, biological, and computer sciences.